Linjiang Kiln Site

Linjiang Kiln Site

The Linjiang Kiln Site is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Jiangxi Province.

The Linjiang Kiln Site (including horseshoe-shaped kilns, glaze washing pools, clay storage pits, fermentation pits, glaze storage pools, ash pits, and "品"-shaped washing ponds)

A porcelain kiln in operation from the Five Dynasties to the late Ming Dynasty. The site is located on Bōjī Lǐng in Línjiāng Village, Tiānyù Town, Ji’an City, Jiangxi Province, directly across the river from the Yonghe Kiln and about 15 kilometers away by waterway. It was one of the workshops of the Jizhou Kiln. Also referred to as the "Jizhou Branch Kiln" in the Jingdezhen Tao Lu. Two excavations were carried out from September 1990 to April 1991 and from October 1991 to January 1992, during which three horseshoe-shaped kilns, thirteen "品"-shaped washing pools in three groups, and over sixty workshop remains including drying platforms, glaze tanks, potter's wheel bases, and water channels were uncovered. More than 16,000 pieces of precious porcelain and kiln tools from the Five Dynasties, Northern and Southern Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties were unearthed. From the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty, milky-white glazed porcelain was produced, with items such as bowls, cups, plates, and saucers. In the Northern Song Dynasty, in addition to milky-white glaze, black-glazed and bluish-white glazed porcelain were also produced. The Southern Song Dynasty saw the addition of painted white-ground porcelain and green-glazed porcelain. In the Yuan Dynasty, production of milky-white glazed porcelain ceased, but soy-sauce glazed porcelain and imitations of Longquan celadon and bluish-gray glaze porcelain were added. Items included tall-footed cups, ewers, plates, jars, bowls, and saucers, all coated with a slip. In the Ming Dynasty, imitation Longquan celadon and bluish-gray glaze porcelain were mainly produced, along with an increase in white-glazed and blue-and-white porcelain. This site is the only one within the Jizhou Kiln system that produced blue-and-white porcelain, ranking second in quantity only to bluish-gray glaze porcelain. The designs include figures, flowers and birds, insects and fish, scrolling lotus motifs, sea horses, antique patterns, pine-bamboo-plum, and Sanskrit scripts. It was one of China’s Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries in 1991.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units